The knees ache: what should I do?
Practically everyone has occasional unpleasant shots, sharp pains or tingling in the knee joint. Most often, these feelings worry after physical activity in the gym, but sometimes they appear at rest or at night. And kneeling is not only in the elderly, pain can occur even in children and adolescents.
Joint damage
Knee injury is a common cause of the appearance of sharp and unbearable pain. The consequences of an unsuccessful jump or a severe injury can be seen immediately, but it is not always possible to understand which part of the connection is injured. When kneeling, the reasons can be very different. The possible variants of joint damage include:
- Meniscus injury. Immediately after the injury, there is a sharp sharp pain in the knee joint, which disappears independently after a few seconds. After 20 minutes, when the shock state passes, the unpleasant sensations become bursting and aching as a result of the vascular lesion. Fracture of the femur or patella. Almost always, such damage leads to severe pain in the knee, deformity, excessive mobility or unnatural limb position. This trauma is accompanied by swelling, soft tissue damage with joint hemorrhages and unpleasant sensations when the foot moves.
- Sprain or ligament rupture. With such a disease, a characteristic crunch occurs as a result of damage to the fibers, a feeling of dislocation of the foot and sudden sharp pain. Severe trauma leads to instability of the joint. After a while, swelling and hemarthrosis joins, and aching sensations become leading.
If knees, thighs and shin are sore, then most likely the pain has arisen because of excessive physical exertion, which is temporarily abandoned. 
Joint pain due to inflammatory pathologies
If knees are sore, the reasons may be the inflammatory process occurring in the joint. In this case, the pain is sharp or chronic.
For example, unpleasant sensations in the knee can occur with bursitis. With such a disease, one or several articular bags become inflamed, leading to redness, decreased motor activity and edema of the limb.
Still kneeling when developing arthritis. At the given pathology in joints the inflammatory process proceeds. In many cases, various types of arthritis of the knee become the initial stage of the formation of polyarthritis of several joint groups. During this illness, the following symptoms are observed: redness and swelling of the joint, increased pain at rest, at night and with changing weather.
In addition, to provoke the appearance of pain in the knee joint can tendinitis. Inflammation of tendons and ligaments causes swelling and unpleasant sensations in the damaged area, which become more pronounced with contraction of muscles and flexion-extension of limbs. Pain with such a disease often gives to the hips and muscles of the shins.
Quite often the cause of pain in the knee joint is a hernia popliteal fossa. The Becker cyst is capable of causing painful sensations of different intensity under the knee in an active stage. They extend along the gastrocnemius muscle and are strengthened when the joint is bent. 
Diseases of non-inflammatory origin
In such dystrophic pathologies of the knee, only one of the types of connective tissue is most often affected:
- meniscus;
- ligaments;
- cartilage;
- tendons.
These diseases provoke the appearance of pain in the knees during flexion-extension of the leg, movement, as well as crunching in the joint. In some cases, there is an involuntary shuddering of the limb when walking.
Degenerative changes of
Such kind of irreversible damage to the joint tissues, especially cartilage, is usually very long. It is for this reason that the symptoms of the disease develop gradually, drawing more and more compounds into the destructive process.
Often, knees are bled for arthrosis of the joint and spine. Coxarthrosis of the hip joint and gonarthrosis always cause pain in the knee. With such pathologies, unpleasant sensations appear only at the very beginning after the loads, they independently pass at rest. During the progression of the disease, discomfort first acquires a periodic and then a permanent character. As a result, abnormal mobility occurs in the joint or ankylosis develops.
When pain gives to the knee joint, but there are no problems in the joint itself, it is necessary to examine the spine on the radicular lesions. Neuropathies in the knee or neighboring structures also lead to discomfort in the joint.
Vascular pathology
Aching sensations in the knee joint can be caused by vascular diseases. With such an ailment, soreness is felt immediately in the two extremities, grasping the leg from the knee and lower. Even with light physical exertion, there is discomfort in the joint, and after hard training, it intensifies even more.
During a severe circulatory disturbance, aseptic necrosis of the knee bone may occur. The hard part of the tissue with this disease dies off usually in a few days. This pathological process is accompanied by acute, sometimes even intolerable pain.
Unlike unpleasant sensations when walking, pain in the absence of movement, for example at night, most often indicates problems with the vessels. Noel knee in a state of rest, as a rule, with venous stasis. Discomfort in most cases occurs after a short workout. After all, when the affected veins limit blood circulation, during the physical activity, the movement of blood through the vessels is activated.
In this case, it is better to seek help from a specialist to determine the cause of these symptoms. Only the doctor will be able to prescribe the appropriate treatment. If the disease is seriously neglected, they resort to surgery, during which the veins located below the knee are removed. Of course, immediately the pain will not disappear.
The recovery period after surgery will last a long time. To accelerate rehabilitation, regular special exercises and various procedures should be performed regularly.
What should I do for joint pain at night?
If the knee is aching at rest, first of all you should see the doctor. If necessary, the specialist will send additional examinations to select the appropriate treatment. Foots, knees, feet and hips are ache during the night, often due to severe overfatigue, so it is recommended to reduce physical exertion.
Knee joint discomfort, arising at night, is an alarming symptom. Thus, the body signals the presence of pathology. Therefore, you should always listen to yourself, in time to prevent the development of the disease or to eliminate it in the early stages.
In general, when kneeling at night, resort to conservative therapy aimed at removing inflammation and eliminating infection. Sometimes hormones and steroids are prescribed for getting rid of such pains. When dislocated, the joint is manually guided by a traumatologist. 
The knee hurts, whines: what to do in this case?
Remember that only the doctor is able to determine the exact cause of aching pains in the knee joint. Therefore, a visit to the clinic is an important step to quickly resolve the problem. But whatever the cause of the unpleasant sensations in the knees, the first thing you need to reduce the load on the joints.
Quite often, with severe pain in the knee, a person must comply with bed rest with the further activation of the limb. It is advisable to use crutches or walking-sticks while walking, and wear comfortable and soft shoes. The doctor can still recommend the use of orthopedic insoles.
The medical treatment of unpleasant sensations in the knee joint involves the use of anti-inflammatory, chondroprotective and analgesic agents. Such preparations are produced in the form of ointments, gels, tablets, creams and injections.
To relieve pain in the joint, use drugs such as:
- Anti-inflammatory drugs - Voltaren-emulgel and Fastum-gel. They relieve the condition, but do not completely eliminate the inflammation, besides such gels are useless in vascular pathologies.
- Heating preparations - "Troxevasin", "Menovazin", "Kapsikam", "Espol".They can not be used for synovitis, arthrosis and arthritis.
- Ointments based on bee venom - "Apisatron" and "Virapin".Such means are forbidden to apply to women during menstruation and children.
When the knees ache and aches, the inflammatory process in the joint is most effectively removed by the anti-inflammatory drugs. But they do not eliminate the cause of the development of pathology.
Chondroprotectors are not able to relieve pain, but with long use they restore the function of joints and damaged cartilage tissue, reduce the number of relapses of the disease. The most common of these are Dona and Alflutop.
To relieve pain in the knee, you can try to apply a fixative bandage. But it is necessary to consult a doctor, because with some injuries it can not be used, otherwise it can only aggravate the situation.
When kneeling, what to do, only a specialist knows. But if the pain is due to sitting in one place, you just need to move a little. Remember that a sedentary lifestyle is extremely dangerous - it increases the risk of gaining extra pounds. Excess weight gives a strong load on the knee joints.
Physiotherapeutic procedures for joint pain
If the leg and knee are aching for a long time, it is necessary to undergo a course of physiotherapy in addition to medical treatment. Such procedures help to remove aching pains and reduce the dose of medications taken.
During physiotherapy, the healing process of tissues is accelerated in various diseases. But it must be remembered that it can not be carried out with infectious and severe heart ailments, systemic diseases of the kidneys and connective tissue. With discomfort in the knee joint, the following procedures are performed:
- laser treatment;
- magnetotherapy;
- mud treatment;
- treatment with mineral waters;
- UHF therapy;
- electrophoresis.
Massage and physical exercises for joint pathologies
If knees are sore when you get up, you hear a crack, and discomfort worries even at night, massage sessions and therapeutic exercises help to get rid of these problems. But the exercises are allowed to be done only if the patient is not too painful to step on the leg and the doctor has allowed.
Gymnastics should be done slowly, without sudden movements. In the event that there is a strong discomfort in the knees during training, you should switch to more simple exercises. The load should be increased gradually.
In the sitting and lying position, the knee is pulled up to the abdomen, the legs are bent, unbend, the limbs are diverted to the sides, and alternate half-turns are performed. At the end of the workout, you should rest for a while, then start the massage. This procedure also helps to relieve pain in the knee joint.
You can knead your limbs yourself. Of course, it is better to entrust the performance of massage to a specialist. To eliminate many unpleasant symptoms, it is necessary to undergo a course of similar procedures. The massage should last about 20 minutes, during it press on the knee cap, rub the lateral, external and internal surfaces of the legs. When performing a massage, you need to watch so that you do not have severe pain in the knee. 
Removing discomfort with folk remedies
Compresses perfectly relieve aching joint pain and prevent their appearance in the future. Natural yellow clay contributes to the rapid elimination of unpleasant sensations in the knee, because it contains many healing minerals that penetrate directly into the affected area.
You must first add clay in warm water and mix well. The resulting mixture with a thick layer should be applied over the diseased area. Then cover with a film, warm the top with a woolen shawl and leave it over all night. After waking up, this remedy should be washed off with water. This procedure should be carried out every day for 7 days. For prevention purposes, you can do this 2 times a week.
Still to eliminate aching pain in the knee joint use a mixture of chestnut, dandelion and lilac. All these ingredients must be put in a glass jar and filled with vodka. The container should be put in a dark place for infusion. After two weeks, the mixture can be used. In it, you must moisten the gauze napkin and apply it to the diseased area. Just warm, as in the previous case, and leave for the night. With this compress it will be possible to remove even a strong and sharp pain in the knee. 
Herbal infusion for internal reception
This decoction has a powerful tonic and anti-inflammatory effect. The first thing to do is rub the horseradish root. After that, it is poured hot water and put on a water bath. Cook raw materials for at least 20 minutes. Take a ready-made drink should be 1 spoon several times a day. The duration of such therapy is 21 days. This broth will quickly relieve the uncomfortable sensations in the knee joint.
To know exactly why knees are bitten, you can only contact a doctor. In order to avoid such pains, it is necessary to eat right, to stick to an active lifestyle and to treat various diseases in a timely manner.